The parliamentary bill that could speed up the FCA

The Financial Services and Markets Bill currently progressing through Parliament could potentially expedite the operations of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), claim Omar Salem and James Borley. This legislation, aimed at streamlining bureaucratic processes, could reduce the maximum period for determining an authorisation from one year to as little as 10 months.

However, the bill maintains a loophole concerning incomplete applications, which the FCA can classify as 'not received' if it lacks minimum required information. The authors argue that the bill should further reduce deadlines and establish unambiguous standards for application completeness. They also suggest that the FCA could benefit from adopting project management tools to track application progress, enabling applicants to monitor its status.

Additionally, the bill should mandate the FCA to report to Parliament on efforts to improve authorisation efficiency, potentially through technology. The authors argue that faster and more consistent authorisations could foster growth without increasing risk, emphasizing that this is about fairness and accountability in the regulatory process.